Lando Norris Celebrates Career-Defining Pole at United States GP Amidst McLaren Challenges

Lando Norris praises his pole position at the United States Grand Prix as "the highlight of my career." He remarked, "That was an exceptional lap. I can confidently claim it as the best I've ever done in my career."

Lando Norris described his pole position at the United States Grand Prix as “the best of my career” after outperforming his championship contender Max Verstappen during the qualifying session.

Norris delivered an impressive lap to secure the top starting spot at the Circuit of the Americas.

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Although Norris benefited from some luck when George Russell crashed, preventing Verstappen from bettering his time (as Verstappen was ahead of Norris' pace at that moment), the British driver still delivered a commendable performance. This was particularly noteworthy considering McLaren's difficulties this weekend compared to Red Bull.

During the FIA press conference following the Austin qualifying session, Norris expressed, "I believe it was the best lap of my career. It felt really smooth. I might have set my expectations too high because on my second attempt, I told the team, 'I don't think I can make significant improvements here.'"

"I managed to remove everything from the vehicle. We made significant adjustments from the sprint to today's qualifying session. We undoubtedly made some progress, but we continued to face numerous challenges."

"I realized I needed to take a bigger risk and put in more effort. Everything ended up coming together flawlessly."

"That lap was one I couldn't have done again. I'm really pleased because I didn't think I'd be in this position today."

When discussing his top performance in Q3, he elaborated: "Honestly, it was somewhat all over the place. Naturally, we face a slight challenge in high-speed sections, particularly when compared to the Red Bulls."

"Max demonstrated remarkable speed in the first sector, known for its high-speed sections. It was beneficial to work on reducing that speed slightly, and then focus on the braking in the final sector, particularly between Turns 12 and 16."

"When something starts to go wrong, things can unravel rapidly. However, this time everything connected seamlessly, likely for the first and possibly the last time this weekend. Everything aligned perfectly, resulting in an exceptional lap. I can confidently say it was the best one of my career."

Norris is being careful about predicting McLaren's performance in the race due to the events that unfolded during the sprint.

Earlier in the day, Norris concluded the 19-lap sprint in third place. He encountered issues with tyre wear, which caused him to fall behind Carlos Sainz on the last lap.

He stated, "I believe we've made significant enhancements to the car." Yesterday, we weren't anywhere near competing for the pole position, but today we were. Although we're still not perfect, we're in a strong spot.

"In my opinion, our speed compared to Max has been more consistent over the past two days. I anticipated that Ferrari and Mercedes would be faster today, but perhaps they managed to extract more performance from their cars earlier in the weekend. We've managed to make significant improvements between the sprint and now. The race is going to be challenging."

"Ferrari showed impressive speed during the race, particularly in managing tire wear. Max is known for his outstanding performance. They're expected to be fast. I'm looking forward to it. It promises to be an exciting and entertaining competition."

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